


Winter's Embrace

by anderswasright



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-16
Updated: 2012-06-20
Packaged: 2017-11-07 21:44:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/435774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anderswasright/pseuds/anderswasright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>TWOW fic, Davos, Rickon & co are making their way back to Winterfell through the North, but the road is dangerous...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

DAVOS

 

The days were dim and the snowfall wouldn't stop. He was frozen to the bone and once again grateful for his missing fingertips - at least they won't freeze off. Rickon seemed to take the weather easier - even if a summer child, the North was in his blood, the line of the Kings of Winter. Wex made himself a fur hat out of a rabbit he killed on their first day after landing. 

"You think this is winter at it worst?" The wildling woman asked. "We'd call this fair weather North of the Wall. Wait till the wind comes, and the wolves grow hungry."

These woods were treacherous. They had to hide - the Dreadfort was close and even with a skeleton garrison, they could send out scouts, and Davos didn't mean to meet any of them. 

It could take weeks to reach Winterfell, and they had no horses. He didn't dare to risk  landing at White Harbour - Lord Manderly has gone to Winterfell and he didn't trust anyone else. There could still be Frey men lurking about. 

And yet he wished they would meet someone, friend or foe, who could tell them news. Who ruled Winterfell? Did the battle already happen, or did it become a long siege? 

The North was silent as a graveyard, the only life they have seen were a few animals.

They barely made fifteen miles in two days, and that was when they came across the man. He wore no sigil and he was wrapped in furs, but he had a horse.

"Who are you?" Osha asked, bow in hand just in case. Davos drew his sword, but he knew if this was an enemy, he would be in advantage on horseback.

"My name's Osric."

"Whom do you serve?"

"House Glover. I bring a message for Lord Robett, last we heard of him, he was in White Harbor. I hope to find him. How about you?"

They lowered their weapons. Robett Glover was one of the few men they could trust and this man probably had news.

"My name is Davos. This is my family." Even if he decided to trust him, he wouldn't want to reveal their true identity.

"Not the best weather for travel, is it?" Osric dismounted. There was something in his eerily pale eyes Davos didn't like, but he had a friendly smile.

"Do you have news from Winterfell? We haven't met anyone for weeks."

"Yes. King Stannis took Winterfell. Bolton's host was broken and only a few got away. Lord Roose is dead, they say that Dustin woman killed him. The Manderlys turned on them, as did the Umbers."

Davos sent a silent prayer to the Mother. This was better than he would have hoped for.

"That's wonderful news. Would you share our supper? You're surely hungry after that long ride."

The man grinned. "Why, you are most kind! I would have hunted but I'm in a hurry and I lost my dogs on the way, too bad."

"Wolves, was it?" Osha asked as she sent Wex for firewood and prepared to make camp. 

"Aye, wolves." Osric noticed Shaggydog. "Where did you get that beast? That's no ordinary wolf."

Rickon answered. "Ay, he's mine. He eats men."

"I shall hope then he doesn't have taste for me!"

"Oh, he only eats bad men."

"Isn't it too big for a pet, boy?"

"I got him when he was a pup. His mom was killed."

Davos was wary again. The direwolf could give them away, even if this man was a friend, he still didn't want news of their return spread too early. First they had to reach Winterfell.

He asked for more details as they ate, and Osric told them about the trick King Stannis used against the Frey host, the frozen lake.

"That was a big surprise for them. For a southerner, this king knows how to fight his battles."

"He does" Davos said. " "He defeated Victarion Greyjoy  _at sea_. That's how good he is."

"Don't even mention the bloody Greyjoys" Osric hissed.

Davos thought he understood the man's bitterness.  _The North remembers. How happy will they be once we reveal Bran and Rickon are alive?_ Yet he did not dare to reveal it yet.

They finished their meal. 

"Can I stay with you for the night?" Osric asked. "Your fire is more friendly than the thought of riding in this cold."

They agreed, of course. It was good to have another sword with them. Wex took the first watch. Davos, for the first time since they landed, felt relatively safe, and soon he fell asleep.

He couldn't tell what woke him up, but looking at the moon it was later than Wex should have waken him. Maybe the boy fell asleep too.

"Wex?" He got up and looked around but it was dark, the fire has gone out, and the moonlight wasn't enough to see. He groped for the place Wex had been sitting. "Wex, wake up!"

Suddenly he felt cold steel at his throat and a warm breath at his right ear. He froze.  _Treason_ , his mind screamed.

"Don't cry out or you're dead."

"Osric?"

"The Ironborn boy is dead. It was a big mistake to let the mute be the first guard."

"Why-"

"Did you take me for an idiot, Ser Davos? I knew you the instant I saw you. The wildling bitch, the Stark boy... did you think I can't recognize a direwolf when I see one? Did you think I wouldn't notice your shortened fingers just because you have a glove? I'm an expert on missing fingers, sweet ser."

Davos thought he could hear his own wild heartbeat.  _Let him talk_ , he thought. Maybe he could do something then, anything. He had to keep Rickon safe, he had to kill this man, even if it cost him his life. If only Osha would wake up...

"Who are you?" He whispered.

"I told you the truth. Your king defeated me, but I will have the last laugh. I will make a nice new cape out of him."

Davos had heard enough. He grabbed the dagger and the man's wrist, trying to keep it away from himself, and cried out.

"Osha! Osha!"

The blade cut through his thick glove and soon his hand was bleeding, but he managed to escape death for the time. Ramsay grabbed him and they began to fight for the dagger desperately. 

Soon they fell into the snow.

He could hear Osha and Rickon jumping up.

"Osha, take Rickon away!"

"What the hell is going on? I can't see you!" 

"It's Ramsay Bolton, now RUN!"

He hoped she would leave, she could steal Ramsay's horse, then they would be safe. 

"Oh no, she's not going anywhere!"

"Osha, the horse!"

Davos soon heard neighing and Osha cursing. Ramsay, while fighting for his life, still had time to laugh.

"Only I can mount him, fools!"

Davos had had a lot of dirty fighting in his smuggling days, but Ramsay was stronger, much stronger, and young. He knew this would be his last fight, but he vowed he would take the Bastard with him.

Then Osha found them at last, but even the two of them weren't enough. Davos got free but his sword was too far away, where he had laid by the fire, and he couldn't even see it. He tried to kick Ramsay in the groin but he missed, and by that time the Bastard tossed Osha away. He threw himself at the knight and both fell into the snow again. Davos felt a sudden, sharp pain in his back at the lower ribs, and then heard a scream, a growl, and the world became snow and fur and blood, and bones cracking. He looked up and saw Shaggydog, a shadow blacker than the night, standing on Ramsay and ripping at him furiously. The bastard was still screaming.

"He had gone to hunt" Rickon informed them. "Good that he always feels danger."

"Thank the gods, we would all be dead without him" Osha said and lit the fire again.   Now they could see the carnage. Shaggy has meanwhile finished ripping Ramsay to pieces and now, unhurried, he prepared for the well-earned late-night dinner.

Davos could not believe he was still alive. The gods of the North watched over the Starks when they sent them the direwolf pups.

"He killed Wex" he gasped. "We better burn the body before anything happens."

"You learn" Osha said. "Good."

The smell was awful but they couldn't break camp before dawn, so they had to tolerate it. Shaggy, done with his meal, came back and curled up beside Rickon.

Davos waited till the boy fell asleep, embracing his wolf, before he turned to Osha.

"I am wounded. Could you look at it?"

"Why didn't you tell earlier? Gods, you men are so stupid." She beckoned him closer to the fire and her eyes when she saw all the blood told him it was just as bad as he thought.

"You bloody idiot" she took off his fur-padded jerkin and his doublet. His shirt was soaked with blood. Osha ripped it off. The thick layers protected him a bit, but the wound was still deep. She cleaned it the best she could with boiled wine and bandaged it. Davos got another shirt from his bag and dressed back up. It hurt badly but at least the blade didn't reach his lungs. 

"We have to reach Winterfell" he said. "And since that demon horse won't take any other rider, we might as well kill it."

The spent the rest of the night preparing the meat for their journey. At least they won't have to worry about food for a good while. They left at dawn, moving as quickly as they could.

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

The woods didn’t change, neither did the weather. Osha took lead because Davos would have been lost. There was no way telling which direction they were going. The never saw the sun, the days grew darker and darker.

Rickon rode Shaggydog whenever he felt tired, and oft fell asleep on his back. Davos envied him. The pain in his back didn’t let him rest, and when he drifted off, he could not be sure he would wake up again. He was so weak he could barely walk, it was just his stubbornness that stopped him from lying down and giving in to winter. He had a duty towards Rickon, towards Lord Manderly and his King, and he would not fail. He had to get to Winterfell.

In the whirling snowfall his companions faded and his feverish mind played tricks on him.

He saw a maiden feeding purple seeds to a mockingbird who ate them eagerly and dropped dead, and the maiden was smiling.

A lone black brother was climbing the Wall, hundreds of blue eyes watching him from the dark.

A giant in white fought a big black dog who was bleeding from a dozen wounds but attacked again and again while a bald woman in red watched and laughed, and there was madness in her eyes.

A dead wolf lay in the snow, frozen blood around him, and a flock of crows feasted upon him, their beaks dripping red. Suddenly, the wolf opened his eyes and Davos heard three hornblasts.

A kraken was rising from the black depths, killing thousands of scorpions in one swipe, but unseen to him, there was a giant crow, dripping from seawater, following him in his way.

A snake was writhing through long, dark corridors, and as Davos followed it, it led him to an enormous library, but the books turned to dust when he touched them, and then the building crashed, but before it would have buried him, he found himself walking in the winter woods again, alone.

He saw a boy who was a tree, talking to him. He knew it was all a vision, but it seemed real, and when he touched the tree, it didn’t vanish. It was a weirwood, with one of those carved red faces, crying blood tears.  And he understood the words. „Winterfell… Rickon…” He suddenly knew who this tree-boy was, with the certainty brought by walking the line between life and death. „I will bring him home” he promised to Bran Stark. The tree dropped a few crimson leaves and he heard a whisper „See”.

And he opened his eyes and saw. Thick snow covered the ruins, but he saw his King’s banners on the walls and his heart beat faster. He walked through the broken walls, climbed some of them with a newly found strength, and finally he came to a great hall and saw his King, alone and more thin than ever, he was all but a skeleton walking, but he still had that steely look, that grim determination.

He was surrounded by shadows, shadows that creeped nearer and nearer, with shining, eerie blue eyes, and he felt a terrible cold, much worse than the winter his body was fighting, this cold was unnatural and it carried fear and death. He wanted to cry out for his King, to warn him, to rush there and protect him from the things, but he had no voice, he could not move, and he saw ice blades flashing around Stannis, and the King’s sword shattered. Then silence fell.

Davos was kneeling in the snow and Osha tried to support him. She had been calling out to him for a while but he couldn’t hear her.

„We must hurry” he gasped. „Gods, we must hurry, he is in danger.”

„Shhh. You had visions and we almost lost you in the snowstorm. You just wandered off. You need some rest, we can’t continue like this.”

„No” he said. „We can’t lose time. What I saw was real or will be real. And army of ice, and three hornblasts. They are coming, and I must be at my King’s side when they arrive.”

She nodded. „So you saw them too. The time is here.” She helped him up.

„Osha” he whispered „how far can we be?”

„Mayhaps a week, if the gods are good.”

„A heart tree spoke to me. I was raised in the Faith, but the Seven have no power here. Pray, Osha. You know how to pray to them.”

„They are watching over us, Davos. But who is strong enough to stop the White Walkers?”

Davos didn’t know. Eight thousand years ago the Last Hero and the Children of the Forest defeated them, but they were long gone, if they were ever more than a legend. He heard there were dragons in the East, but even if that was true, they were too far away.

He had seen so much, yet the visions didn’t show anything that could be helpful right now. He was lost in a place he didn’t belong to, and he would never see the sea or his family again. He knew only one thing: he could not die before he met his King again.

 


End file.
